Improvement in guide for sewing-machine



WILLIAM G. DODGE, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN GUIDE F OR SEWING-MACHINE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 103,159, dated May 17, 1870.

To all whom it mag concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM C. Doncn, of Washington, in the county of Washington and District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sewing Machine Guides and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, like letters indicating like parts wherever they occur.

To enable others skilled in the art to construct and use my invention, 1 will proceed to describe it.

My invention relates to guides for sewingmachines;'and the invention consists in so constructing the guide that it can be slippedunder the foot of the cloth-presser, and thus, bring its edge close up to the needle for the purpose of stitching closeto the edge of the fabric, as hereinafter more fully explained.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a top-plan view of the guide as 'it is used. Fig. 2 is a front elevation, and Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken on the line a; a: of Figs. 1 and 2.

As is well known, it is necessary, in using sewing-machines, to have a guide to gage the distance of the stitching from the edge of the fabric, and also to guide the cloth in its movement, so as to produce a regular and even row of stitches, and this is especially necessary where the stitching is for ornamental purposes, as is usual on cuffs, collars, and similar articles.

In that class of machines which use a wide foot for pressing or holding down the clot-h, and especially in those using a glass foot for that purpose, it is impossible to get the ordinary guide any nearer to the needle than theouter edge of the foot or of the frame that holds the foot if a glass one be used.

To remedy this dificulty guides have been I made so as to be set in front of the foot; but

such guides do not fully answer the purpose, for the reasons, first, that the cloth can only bear against it at some distance from the needle in front, and hence the cloth is liable to work in or out, and thus render the stitching irregular or crooked; and, secondly, because, when a corner has to be turned on the fabric, the latter has no bearing at all against the guide just at the time when 'it is most needed.

To remedy these difficulties and provide a guide that can be set close to the needle and always furnish a hearing or guiding edge for the cloth at a point directly opposite the needle is the object of my invention; and to accomplish this I construct my guide in any of the usual forms, as represented by A of the drawings. I then cut awaythe lip it, against which the cloth bears at the point where it comes opposite the foot 0, so that it can be shoved under the latter, as shown more clearly in Fig. 2. I also cut away the upper surface of the guide where it comes under the foot, so as to conform to the under surface of the foot or presser e, as shown at 0, Figs. 1, 2, and 3. In cutting it away at this point I leave the front edge as thick as possible, while not raising the foot so high as to prevent it from pressing on the cloth, the front edge, even at the point Where thus hollowed out on top, still presenting a surface or edge for the clothto bear against, the front edge of the guide A thus forming an unbroken straight line its entire length.

When thus constructed the guide A can be shoved under the glass foot 6 as close to the needle as desired, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the foot 6 and its frame 0 being shown in position in red in Fig. 1.

By this means not only can the stitching be done close to the edge of the fabric B. but the guide always presents a bearing-edge directly opposite the needle, and thus serves as a guide for the fabric when stitching around corners, as represented in Fig. 1.

This guide answers fully all the purposes of an ordinary guide for sewing the seams of garmen ts, &c., thus dispensing with the necessity of providing separate guides for these different uses.

The lips (I. are not indispensable, but it is better to make the guide with them, as they serve to prevent the possibility of the cloth working or slipping up onto the guide Where it is cut away at c.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- A guide for sewing-machines having its upper surface so formed as to fit the under surface of the foot or cloth-presser and permit the guide to be inserted under the foot without raising the .latter from the cloth, and at the same time form a bearing for the edge of the fabric at" a point directly opposite the needle, substantially as described.

Witnesses: WILLIAM G. DODGE.

H. B. MUNN, P. T. DODGE. 

